Stone masonry and brick masonry facings have been traditionally constructed by skilled workers from individual units, such as bricks, stones, or rocks, set and mortared one after the other into the shape of a wall. This is a very long process which is time consuming, and that, even more for a stone work which involves the assembling of a plurality of different shapes and sizes of pieces of stone.
Current methods use wire mesh affixed to a back panel upon which an adhesive cement is applied followed by the stone or brick elements. Other methods use specially designed long pieces of extruded or bent and folded metal to act as rectilinear support structure upon which stone work is applied. Further methods employ mortarless bricks, which rely upon the nailing or screwing of pieces of thin, regularly spaced, strips of wood onto which rows upon rows of bricks are nailed down.
Different solutions have been proposed in the prior art for reducing the time required for forming or designing a masonry wall, especially a stone work, or for making its construction available to an unskilled person.
Among these prior art solutions, there are the prefabricated artificial facings which consist of panels or form liners with an assemblage of decorative prefabricated molded bricks or stones giving the appearance of natural brick, stone or other masonry material. These pre-fabricated panels or liners have to be transported to the job site to be attached to the frame of a building. One drawback encounters with many of these prefabricated artificial facings is that they often do not provide an architecturally satisfactory appearance of real brick or stone. Also, they are often very heavy and are thus difficult and cumbersome to transport to the job site and to install on the building structure. Another drawback with many of these pre-fabricated panels is that once installed side by side on a surface, the separation line between the panels is clearly visible which makes those prefabricated panels less attractive for someone researching the appearance of a real natural stonework. Examples of such prior art prefabricated facings are giving in U.S. Pat Nos. 2,339,489; 3,496,694; 3,350,827; 3,712,825; 3,908,326; 4,510,729; 4,656,722; 5,386,963; 5,632,922; 6,041,567; and 6,164,037.
Also known in the prior art, there are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,855,075 and 5,894,676, which disclose a brick template for laying a plurality of bricks. This template, which serves as a guide for mounting the rows of bricks, includes a planar and rigid sheet having a plurality of support pins projecting therefrom in a predetermined pattern for supporting a plurality of bricks.
Further known in the prior art, there is U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,387 which discloses a liner made of an elastomeric material with recesses formed therein for receiving bricks. Retaining devices attached to the liner are provided for retaining the pieces of brick into the recesses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,251 discloses a masonry construction aid which allows its user to insert masonry into a pre-determined, pre-formed, soluble pattern that contains within a bonding material. After applying a catalyst to the pattern, the pattern disintegrates, the bonding agent activates and bonds the masonry together and hardens into a permanent structure. The pattern disclosed therein is devised to form a non complex masonry work with respect to the arrangement of the bricks on the wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,049 discloses a thin brick panel assembly for forming a brick facing on a building structure. The brick panel assembly includes a backing member with a generally uniform cross-section throughout its entire length, providing channels, which allow the thin brick, tiles to lay uniformly across each row. The channels are defined by retaining bars which hold the thin brick tiles in place. The retaining bars include mortar lock notches, which are adapted to provide a dovetail connection between the mortar and the backing board, and a path for moisture and water to escape from the brick panel assembly. This brick panel assembly is specifically adapted for mounting masonry pieces having a regular rectangular shape.
Other examples of prior art systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat No. 3,238,589; U.S. Pat. No. RE 35,380; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,459,938 and 5,232,608.
Although many efforts have been made in the prior art to provide devices or systems aiming at facilitating the construction of masonry work, there is still a need for a device or system that will allow professional, and also unskilled persons, to rapidly and easily construct a masonry work having the look of a traditional masonry work made by highly skilled artisan.